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A shortage of baby milk powder has been eased by higher prices and added supply, a business group says.
Lau Oi-kwok, chairman of the  General Chamber of Pharmacy,  said the situation had  improved since April. He  said the price increases  had discouraged mainland shoppers from buying the powder in bulk.
'Back at the beginning of the year, a lot of mothers from the mainland and Hong Kong were shopping in a frenzy because they were worried about a shortage,' Mr Lau said.
'And among them quite  a few mainland shoppers were trying to make a profit by selling the milk powder back  on the mainland... The price increase has deterred such behaviour.'
But he expressed concern that retailers, especially pharmacies, still had to observe quotas when ordering supplies.
A spokeswoman for ParknShop  said prices and supply of milk powder  had remained stable since  last month and that there  had been no shortage of milk powder since then.
Regina Tam Chuk-ching, marketing director of Mead Johnson,  which makes food for infants, said  it had been closely monitoring the retail market in different districts.
She  said 130,000 cans of milk powder were being  sent  by air in response to the increase in demand in the past few months. Part of the supply is already out on the market, and the remainder  will arrive within the week.
Starting next month,  Mead Johnson will also increase the monthly supply of milk powder to Hong Kong by 20 per cent compared with the same time last year.
'Efforts are being made in adjusting supplies in every district so that all mothers will be able to buy milk powder,' Ms Tam said.
She said she could not comment on the milk powder shortage on the mainland as the company used a different supply line there.
Mead Johnson raised the price of its milk powder by 13 per cent   at the beginning of April and had no plan to launch another round of price increases,  Ms Tam said.
Wyeth  Hong Kong, another nutritional supplier, on the other hand, has raised prices by 4 per cent  across its milk powder products line.
A spokeswoman said that the company  was not considering  adjusting prices or supply in the near future.



Baby milk powder shortage eased by increase in price and supplies